1.9 - Drinking the Kool Aid

In the movie Mean Girls, there's a scene where the lunchroom seating arrangements are explained. I snickered over the silliness of that scene until I realized that based on what I've heard from my own students, it's not far from the truth. People have this need to belong and will go through great lengths to make sure that they're not labelled an outcast.

It's strange because the previous episode was all about Veronica scaring people into staying away from her. After all, Veronica's philosophy of "you get tough, you get even" isn't exactly the motto of the social beans. The ironic thing is that Veronica knows how to be popular. She is aware of the steps she needs to take to get into a crowd; she just never choses to take them.

Take a look at her current friends and you'll see a common trend:

• Wallace: has access to school records and other information inside the school adminstration.
• Weevil: a strongarm when Veronica needs him.
• Mac: client and technological expert.

In that vein, I don't find it at all odd that Veronica managed to be at home with the cult. They were willing to accept her AND her blemishes without question. With that sort of acceptance, how can you not feel welcome and begin to open up to people without thinking about how to best use them? For a teenage girl with a lifetime of misery heaped onto her, it was great to see Veronica geniunely happy, something that we hadn't seen since episode 4 and the Homecoming flashbacks.

There is one more episode 4 parallel: this isn't the Veronica we want. We the fans are a pretty harsh bunch because as long as the show's running, we don't want a happily ever after. For the sake of an intriguing story, we like to see our protagonist being run up trees by rottweilers, not walking along the sidewalk, poodle leash in one hand and lover's hand in the other. The fun is in watching our hero overcome and conquer, not living her dream life.

Still, it's good to see that Veronica can fit in again, that she could be friends with people without business getting in the way.

Our blonde heroine has become attainable.

Other Notes

- Really sad moment: Keith showing Veronica the water bed. I felt really, really... really bad for Keith at the moment. Stupid Abel Koonz.

- Really sad moment #2: Veronica and the paper shredder. I guess she isn't an information junkie like me.

- "Bad ass action figure daughter..." For some reason, that line always cracks me up.

- I don't get why Keith was so angry at Veronica. I mean heck, he asked for Veronica's participation in the case... he should've been surprised had Veronica NOT gone to check out the cult herself.

- I was a little disappointed at first when I found out that the cult wasn't evil, as it seemed a little anticlimatic.

Final rating: ***. 2.5 because it lacked Logan and Weevil and frankly, as great a twist as it was, a nonthreatening cult doesn't exactly make for compelling TV. Tack on an extra ½* for the Veronica-Keith scenes.